Settlement movement/Definition

An approach to social reform that began in the 1880s in which educated middle- and upper-class reformers lived in inner-city neighborhoods seeking to know, befriend and aid their uneducated, lower-class, immigrant or poor neighbors. Toynbee House (London, 1883), University Settlement (Chicago, 1883), Hull House (Chicago, 1889), Henry Street (New York, 1895) are among the best known of the hundreds of settlement houses formed.